Hometeam: Gardner principal, MIAA tell different stories

When Gardner High School principal Donna Pierce suspended swim coach Don Lemieux three days before last month's state meet, she said it was done only to allow the athletes to participate. According to Superintendent Carol Daring, Pierce had reached a compromise with the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association that gave Gardner athletes accused of breaking MIAA practice rules the OK to take part if the coach did not.

When Gardner High School principal Donna Pierce suspended swim coach Don Lemieux three days before last month's state meet, she said it was done only to allow the athletes to participate.

According to Superintendent Carol Daring, Pierce had reached a compromise with the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association that gave Gardner athletes accused of breaking MIAA practice rules the OK to take part if the coach did not.

Lemieux allegedly allowed swimmers to skip high school practices but attend club practices the same day, a charge he denies. This would violate MIAA Rule 45, which applies to athletes, but not coaches.

Yesterday, MIAA spokesman Paul Wetzel said such an agreement was never made.

“We never told the school principal that she had to suspend the coach,” Wetzel said, “or that suspending the coach would lessen any penalties against the swimmers.

“That was a school department decision, not an MIAA decision,” Wetzel said. “They decided that was the best course of action to take.”

Pierce informed Lemieux of his suspension on Feb. 16, three days before the state meet at Harvard University. Gardner had won the event in 16 of 19 seasons under Lemieux, including 15 straight titles from 1994-2008.

“(Pierce) told me (suspending me) was the only way the MIAA would allow my swimmers to compete,” Lemieux said yesterday. “I asked if we could appeal the MIAA's decision, but she told me it was too late.

“They led me to believe that it was an MIAA decision when the MIAA is now saying it was not.”

The day after Lemieux was suspended, Daring emailed city officials the news, but said it was Pierce's decision to suspend the coach.

Lemieux officially resigned the following week.

He said he thought he was doing the right thing at the time by abiding by the MIAA's suspension as delivered by Pierce. Assistant principal and acting athletic director Tim McCormick was also present at the meeting.

“The most important thing was that the kids were being allowed to swim,” Lemieux said yesterday. “Now, to think, I could have been there with them. . . It's just not right.”

With five of Gardner's eight swimmers boycotting the state meet in support of their coach, the Wildcats finished 24th out of 37 teams in Division 1.

Wetzel said MIAA assistant director Ned Doyle spoke with Pierce about alleged rules violations — as reported by a swimmer's family, which conducted its own investigation — but never gave her the option of suspending the coach instead of the athletes.

“That's not something we would do,” Wetzel said.

Daring told the Gardner News on Wednesday a different story.

“The only way the athletes would be allowed to swim in the state meet was without their coach,” Daring said of the agreement between Pierce and the MIAA. “That is the way they would allow her to send the children to participate in the state meet.”

Daring told the Telegram & Gazette yesterday she was quoted accurately and that she supports her first-year principal.

Telephone and email messages left for Pierce yesterday were not returned.

MIAA Rule 45 states: “Bona fide members of a school team are precluded from missing a high school practice or competition in order to participate in a non-school athletic activity/event in any sport recognized by the MIAA.”

Wetzel said yesterday that Pierce told the MIAA that the school's investigation into the alleged practice violations has not been completed and would be forwarded to the MIAA when it was.

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